Clarissa · Chapter
Letter 174: Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe explained
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe, expressing her deep distress and the indignities she suffers under Lovelace's protection.
What happens
Clarissa writes to Anna Howe, expressing her deep distress and the indignities she suffers under Lovelace's protection. She reveals that Lovelace now pressures her to go out in public with him but avoids any mention of marriage. Clarissa considers a desperate plan to regain her family's favor by surrendering her inheritance and vowing never to marry, hoping her uncle Harlowe might intercede. Meanwhile, Lovelace's letters to Belford expose his elaborate schemes to intercept Clarissa's correspondence, search her belongings, and tighten his control, all while justifying his libertine pursuit.
Themes in this chapter
Female Agency and Virtue
Clarissa's attempt to negotiate her own fate by surrendering her inheritance and vowing celibacy demonstrates her constrained agency within patriarchal structures.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Lovelace's elaborate deceptions—feigning respectability, instructing Dorcas to pretend illiteracy, and planning to steal letters—underscore the theme of appearance versus reality.
Power and Manipulation
Lovelace's detailed contrivances to control Clarissa's movements, correspondence, and possessions illustrate his manipulative pursuit of power over her.
Characters to notice
- Clarissa Harlowe
Writes in a state of melancholy and distress, feeling isolated and betrayed; considers surrendering her inheritance and vowing never to marry to regain family favor.
- Robert Lovelace
Schemes to intercept Clarissa's letters and search her belongings; boasts of his contrivances and justifies his libertine pursuit.
- Anna Howe
Clarissa's confidante; Lovelace suspects her of influencing Clarissa and plots to intercept their correspondence.
- John Belford
Recipient of Lovelace's letters detailing his schemes and justifications.
- Dorcas Wykes
Lovelace's servant, instructed to spy on Clarissa, search her belongings, and feign illiteracy to avoid suspicion.
- Mrs. Sinclair
Mentioned as the brothel keeper who facilitates the removal of Clarissa's clothes into a chest with secret compartments.
Key passages
“When you reflect upon my unhappy situation, which is attended with so many indelicate and even shocking circumstances, some of which my pride will not let me think of with patience; all aggravated by the contents of my cousin's affecting letter; you will not wonder that the vapourishness which has laid hold of my heart should rise to my pen.”
Given my distressing situation—full of humiliating and shocking details that my pride can hardly bear, made worse by my cousin's moving letter—you won't be surprised that my melancholy spills onto the page.
Clarissa explains her emotional state to Anna, attributing her sadness to her circumstances and her cousin's letter.
“I will give up all right and title to my grandfather's devises and bequests, with all my heart and soul, to whom they please, in order to make my proposal palatable to my brother. And that my surrender may be effectual, I will engage never to marry.”
I am willing to renounce my entire inheritance from my grandfather to anyone they choose, just to make my offer acceptable to my brother, and I will promise never to marry to ensure the surrender is complete.
Clarissa proposes to sacrifice her inheritance and vow celibacy to appease her family.
“I must come at correspondences so disobediently carried on. But, on second thoughts, if I could find out that the dear creature carried any of her letters in her pockets, I can get her to a play or to a concert, and she may have the misfortune to lose her pockets.”
I need to intercept her secret letters. If I discover she keeps them in her pockets, I could take her to a play or concert where she might conveniently lose them.
Lovelace plots to steal Clarissa's letters by arranging for her to lose her pockets during an outing.
